They have had great influence on each other’s lives, and it appears that the workaholic Knaus has tried to take at least a little time to enjoy life outside of the office.

He has a new girlfriend — former Miss Sprint Cup Brooke Werner was in victory lane with him Sunday at Dover — and he mentioned that he’s in a good place.

“I've never been happier in my life with my personal life, my performance at the racetrack, what we've got going on, and Jimmie has helped a lot with that,” Knaus said.

“So has Mr. Hendrick as far as making me understand that I've got to take time away from the facility and understand that there's life outside of motorsports. I've tried for a long time to deny that fact, but I'm really, really enjoying it all the way around.”

Johnson has always seemed to be the more calm one outside the car, and he tweeted photos of his oldest daughter wheeling a little toy car Sunday prior to the race.

It looked like she had as much fun as Johnson had in winning the race with what appeared to be a dominant car.

“Things have changed quite a bit with this no-ride-height limit,” Johnson said about the 2014 rule changes that include no minimum ground clearance for the cars.

“We're now at a point where we've identified areas to produce speed and bringing new versions and new cars to the track.”

What took them so long? Knaus points to last year’s title run while Team Penske and Stewart-Haas Racing, among others, were focused on 2014.

“When you have guys like the Penske guys who were basically out of the championship hunt (early last year), when you have a guy like Rodney Childers who's an amazing crew chief, a great crew chief, you give him six months off to where all he has to do is prepare for the next season — he'd better come out guns blazing, especially when he works for Kevin Harvick,” Knaus said.

“I feel like that is the reason we were behind coming into the 2014 season. The further we get into the season, the more I think that that'll level back off.”